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Al-Qaeda: Still Trying to Go Global

[Ha'aretz] Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff - Nearly eight years after the September 11 attacks, Col. (res.) Lior Lotan, a senior fellow at the International Policy Institute for Counter Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, believes al-Qaeda has not given up on attacking Western targets. So far, Israeli intelligence assessments that al-Qaeda would turn Israel into a major target have not materialized. Lotan says that Iraq al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was originally Jordanian, showed a special interest in Palestinians. However, developments in our area have been checked for the time being, partly because Zarqawi was killed but also because the Palestinians were not interested in such extremist elements. Nevertheless, groups identified with al-Qaeda have become increasingly active in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Some follow the veteran non-political Islamic movement Salafyoon, and others the Jaljalat, comprised of former members of Hamas' military wing who objected to the cease-fire with Israel. In February 1998, Bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri declared war on the "Crusaders" and the Jews, and called upon Muslims to launch a global Jihad against military and non-military targets. "Since then, they have not progressed as they wanted," said Lotan. "They are retreating. Al-Qaeda's people have not convinced the common Muslim that radicalism will redeem him. In the coming decade, we will find out whether the moderate Muslims have won." "A lot depends on Western support and the Arab regimes' endurance, but at the moment it seems that the extremists have been outdone."
2009-08-28 08:00:00
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